Northam Tells Staff He Won’t Resign over Racist Yearbook Photo

During a cabinet meeting Friday afternoon, Virginia governor Ralph Northam told his staff that he will not resign despite the overwhelming condemnation he’s received from fellow Democrats this week following the emergence of a racist photo on his 1984 medical-school-yearbook page, according to the Associated Press. The yearbook photo, which depicts one man in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan uniform, was first published on Friday by the right-wing website Big League Politics. Immediately following its publication, Northam admitted to appearing in the photo and apologized for the harm it caused his constituents. Then, during a Saturday afternoon press conference, Northam backtracked, denying that he appeared in the photo but admitting to darkening his face on another occasion while he was in college.